My team of 17 flew in to Haiti from the Dominican Republic on a United Nations Humanitarian Air Services flight (piloted by Canadians that day). It was a bit of a panic getting on the plane, as we were only allowed one 20kg bag each and most team members had packed huge hockey bags of medical supplies. So our medical supplies stayed in the DR overnight (and fortunately made it to Haiti the next day without issue). Here's me and two of my teammates getting ready to board the plane.
Flying over Haiti, I expected to be able to see evidence of the earthquake as we neared Port-au-Prince. From the air, though, all we could see was the occasional tent camp (the bright blue tarps over the tents made them easy to see) and a huge Red Cross hospital ship in the harbour. Other than that, Port-au-Prince looked pretty unremarkable from the air.
We landed at a UN compound, which was interesting. No immigration, no customs - just got off the plane, walked across the tarmac, and went through a little portable building to enter Haiti. That is probably the only time I will ever have such a straightforward experience entering another country!
Driving to our accommodations, I expected to see destruction everywhere I looked. However, while there were some collapsed buildings, many appeared unharmed from the earthquake. As I began to look closer, though, I could see that while many buildings were standing, lots of them had huge cracks running up the walls. Fences and walls were often leaning at unusual angles, and piles of bricks were everywhere as cleanup was already started in the area (we were in Tabarre). Here is a picture of one of the first buildings that I saw that was completely destroyed - this was a hotel.
While I expected to see more destruction during my first few hours in Haiti, I knew that there was probably a lot more to see and experience that would go beyond my expectations. This was was true. Two things that were beyond what I expected were the epicenter area of Port-au-Prince as well as the Haitian's stories about the impact of the earthquake on their lives (more to come on these topics...).
Thinking back to that first day in Haiti, I realize that at that point I was focusing on the wrong part of the story. My initial focus was to look for destruction, and I was wrongly assuming that if houses were standing the impact of the earthquake on its inhabitants wouldn't be as great as it was for those living in tent camps. In fact, the impact on everyone in the Port-au-Prince area is great - greater than I really anticipated. And while collapsed buildings are dramatic and shocking to see (in person as well as in photos), I found that after a few days I had almost stopped noticing the destruction along the roads we frequently traveled.
While pictures illustrate the destruction more powerfully than I can describe in writing, I hope to communicate some of the stories of the survivors in posts to come...not only stories about loss and struggle, but also stories about resilience and hope.
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